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The Daily Movie Wallpaper
Saturday, August 29, 2009

***
Nikkatsu Noir Contest from Cinema is Dope – Enter Today
***

Herzog’s tendency to focus on deluded (if not outright delusional) figures trying to eke out some kind of salvation against jungles both real and allegorical is now legendary, and this story takes on urgent resonance in a twenty-first-century American city trying to start from scratch.

- Colin Geddes (TIFF Write Up)

If this movie is even half as good as its trailer is, this could very well be one of the years most thrilling and offbeat rides from start to finish.

Of note in the pictures above is the scowl on the face of Nicolas Cage in the first image and the action figure with the American Flag in the second one.

Related Coverage:
::: @ 66th Venice Film Festival
::: @ Toronto International Film Festival

Image Source:
Official stills that were used in the original international release of the film.

Related Links:
::: IMDb Profile

Vintage Movie Wallpaper of the Day
Sunday, July 12, 2009

Inspired Japanese poster artwork for Alfred Hitchcock’s 53rd and final film, Family Plot.

Related Coverage:
::: Japanese Poster Celebration Month – January 2009

Image Source:
Official original Japanese poster artwork for this film.

Related Links:
::: IMDb Profile

Vintage Movie Wallpaper of the Day
Thursday, July 9, 2009

Official Yugoslavian lobbycard artwork for the 1972 crime thriller, Sitting Target, from Douglas Hickox (Zulu Dawn and Brannigan) that features an unbridled powerhouse performance from Oliver Reed.

Image Source:
Official lobbycard that was used in the original Yugoslavian release of the film.

Related Links:
::: IMDb Profile

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New Cinema Wallpaper of the Day
Tuesday, July 7, 2009

I saw the The Wolberg Family (La famille Wolberg; Variety Review) at the recent 62nd Cannes Film Festival in May. What peaked my interest was that it had been drawing from its initial word of mouth a comparison to Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums (one of my favorite films this decade). The Wolberg Family while being a dark and quirk family melodrama really doesn’t exist in the same universe as Tenenbaums and going into it expecting that would take you down the wrong path. The Wolberg Family is a sobering, intimate and non-rushed family melodrama that perfectly works its way to what is perhaps the most touching endings of any film I’ll see this year. As a small and intimate melodrama and character study of a father and daughter relationship it shines brightly and touches deeply. I’m as foreign to father and daughter relationships as the come but here in the way Axelle Ropert portrays it onscreen it couldn’t feel more emotionally vivid, human and honest. In melodramas I’m often used to a more homogenized system of relationships and characters, which thankfully the Wolberg family feels carefully planned out as human movie characters struggling with each other and the obstacles in life. And yes there are some very quirky moments and laughs throughout.

Francois Damiens hits all the right notes as the father Simon in a complex role where he needs to not only come to terms with himself but also with his wife Marianne played by Valerie Benguigui and his daughter Delphine played by Leopoldine Serre. In the early going Simon is a tough character to crack or get into and then as it unfolds writer and director Axelle Ropert keeps peeling back the layers and broadening its symphony song of life, redemption and family. Highly recommended!

The Wolberg Family (2009)

Simon … Francois Damiens
Marianne … Valerie Benguigui
Delphine … Leopoldine Serre
Benjamin … Valentin Vigourt
Le Grand-Pere … Jean-Luc Bideau
L’Homme Blond … Jocelyn Quivrin

Statement from Writer/Director Axelle Ropert

A few years ago, at the side of a road on Belle-Isle, I met a little boy and his mother coming back from the beach, their cheeks red, sand between their toes. It was the end of the day but the late August sun was still strong. The little boy, who was walking ahead of his mother, turned and called impatiently to her, “Mummy, why don’t you walk next to me?” His mother answered calmly, “So that my shadow will protect you from the sun, sweetheart.” They carried on walking, one behind the other, as I stopped to watch.

La Famille Wolberg is a family melodrama, a genre that asks questions whose simplicity I find particularly attractive: what is a family man, how can a man and a woman stay together for years, how can you let your children go and how can you leave your father and mother? The protective shadow that parents cast over their children and that these same children will flee one day or another will perhaps shelter this film.

SYNOPSIS

He can make an amazing speech on American soul music to astounded school kids, meddle in the private life of his fellow citizens or even make his 18-year-old daughter swear that never, ever, will she leave the family home. This man’s name is Simon Wolberg, mayor of a small provincial town, madly in love with his wife, an invasive father and a provocative son! This man is driven by his obsession with his family. It causes him to put these bonds to the test, checking their strength and fragility…

Related Coverage:
::: Cinema is Dope: Best of the 62nd Cannes Film Festival

Image Source:
Official stills used in the original international release.

Related Links:
::: IMDb Profile

Vintage Movie Wallpaper of the Day
Monday, June 22, 2009

From one of my favorite movie speeches ever by Clifton Webb down to its iconic painting, the 1944 film noir, Laura directed by Otto Preminger, to this day remains one of my all-time favorites. This vivid original still of Dana Andrews and Vincent Price is wonderfully lit and framed.

Image Source:
Official still that was used in the original USA release of the film.

Related Links:
::: IMDb Profile